What platforms and hardware does Sonic Pi support?

Updated

Sonic Pi runs as a desktop application on Windows, macOS, and Linux. A web version also exists, but it is a reduced version of the tool: several hardware and synchronization features are only available in the desktop app. If you plan to connect MIDI controllers, route audio through an interface, or sync with other music software, use the desktop app.

Desktop platforms

The site offers a download for Windows, macOS, and Linux, alongside a "Launch Sonic Pi" option for the web version. The desktop app is the version described as supporting low-latency audio through your interface via ASIO (Windows), Core Audio (macOS), and PipeWire (Linux).

Hardware and software connections

Sonic Pi is described as a fully networked live coding music studio. The feature table on the site compares the app and web versions:

Feature App Web
Gamepad input yes yes
Live audio in and out yes, multichannel yes, stereo
Well-timed MIDI in and out yes yes, not Safari
Low-latency audio through your interface (ASIO, Core Audio, PipeWire) yes no
Well-timed OSC in and out yes no
Ableton Link and Link Audio yes no

What this means in practice:

  • MIDI — you can send and receive well-timed MIDI, so external keyboards, controllers, and MIDI-capable software can be part of a performance. In the web version this works except in Safari.
  • OSC — well-timed OSC in and out is desktop-only, which matters if you want to control Sonic Pi from another application or send its events elsewhere on a network.
  • Audio — the desktop app handles multichannel live audio in and out; the web version is limited to stereo. Low-latency audio through an audio interface is desktop-only.
  • Ableton Link and Link Audio — syncing tempo and audio with other Link-enabled software is desktop-only.
  • Gamepad input — available in both the app and the web version.

Choosing between the app and the web version

Use the desktop app if you need any of the following: an audio interface with low-latency drivers, multichannel audio, OSC, Ableton Link, or MIDI in Safari. Use the web version if you want to try Sonic Pi quickly with stereo audio, gamepad input, and MIDI in a non-Safari browser, without installing anything.

What you can do once it runs

Sonic Pi is a code-based music creation and performance tool aimed at professional musicians and DJs, composition and performance, blind and partially sighted people, and computing and music lessons. Synths are defined in code, and each synth has its own page in the documentation where you can play from its keys and shape it with its dials. The site also shows live-coded performances, including sets by DJ_Dave, Sam Aaron and Ben Smith, alsoknownasrox, and a coded version of Daft Punk's "Aerodynamic" by Sébastien Rannou.

The project began as a Computer Lab research project at Cambridge University in collaboration with Raspberry Pi, and is now independent, open source, and community supported.